1. 1D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
DIGITAL ADVOCACY
TRENDS IN 2015
Public Affairs Council European Office

2. 2D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
A B O U T T H E P U B L I C A F F A I R S C O U N C I L
The Public Affairs Council is a nonpolitical and nonpartisan organization of nearly
700 member companies and non-profits. The Council works to enhance the value
and professionalism of the public affairs practice through training, information
resources and research, enabling its members to achieve success while
maintaining the highest ethical standards.

3. 3D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Survey Explores
Online Engagement in EU Advocacy
Digital advocacy is one of the hottest topics in “the Brussels bubble” today. All organisations — whether they
work in health care, energy, environment, beverages or consumer goods — are looking for best practices in
influencing public discourse about their key public policy concerns and in getting their messages across to
policymakers. There is growing momentum toward online monitoring, trend analysis and stakeholder mapping,
with new and more powerful tools and applications being made available each day.
Digital Advocacy Trends in 2015, a new survey conducted by the Public Affairs Council and 3Communications,
examined a large cross section of industries to determine the spread and efficacy of digital advocacy (defined here
as advocating via blogs, social media, video and other online tools).
K E Y F I N D I N G S I N C L U D E :
An overwhelming majority of the respondents already use digital advocacy tools — and even one-third of those few
who do not, plan to do so in the next 12 months.
The top two goals of respondents are to promote their organisation’s views and engagement with policymakers.
Twitter, newsletters, infographics, blogging and videos are the top five tools advocates use to convey their messages
and trigger engagement.
The average time respondents spent on social media engagement is 12 hours per week.
Seventy-three percent of respondents expect their budget for digital advocacy to increase over the next 12 months.
M E T H O D O L O G Y
In May and June 2015, the Public Affairs Council and 3Communications sent questionnaires to 2,531 Europe-
based corporate and trade association public affairs professionals. The survey was also promoted via social media
channels during the six-week survey period. A total of 168 usable responses were received. The median values
presented throughout this report are stated separately for each line item. The medians, taken together, do not
represent the profile of any individual company.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N
András Baneth
Public Affairs Council
abaneth@pac.org | (+32) 496 201416 | pac.org/europe

4. 4D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Have you used any digital advocacy tools for professional reasons in the past 12
months? (The term “digital advocacy” includes websites, blogs, social media, newsletters, infographics,
video, online monitoring, stakeholder mapping tools or other channels designed to enable advocacy.)
Q1
YES 89.3%
NO 10.7%
n = 168
A N A LY S I S
While the importance of digital advocacy appears clear, those uninterested in digital advocacy would have been less
likely to have participated in the survey.
Why not? [For those who answered “no” to Q1]
Q2
It’s not relevant to my organisation. 43.8%
It’s not a priority. 18.8%
We don’t have enough time. 12.5%
There are too many legal and/or administrative issues. 6.3%
We don’t have the resources. 6.3%
We are not ready. 6.3%
Other 6.3%
n = 16
“ O T H E R ” I N C L U D E S
We are not ready now, but we are really interested for the future.

5. 5D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Do you plan to use any digital advocacy tools in the next 12 months?
[For those who answered “no” to Q1]
Q3
YES 28.6%
NO 57.1%
Maybe 14.3%
n = 14
A N A LY S I S
While nearly six in 10 have no plans to start using them in the next year, nearly 29 percent plan to use digital
advocacy in the near future.
It seems that most of those who will adopt, have already adopted, or are about to adopt, a digital advocacy strategy.
What was the primary objective of your digital advocacy activity in the
past 12 months? [Choose one.]
Q4
Promoting our views and increasing our visibility 38.3%
Engagement with our target audience 25.5%
Taking part in the online debate about a policy or issue 10.6%
Information gathering 9.2%
Promoting our events 7.1%
Driving visitors to our website 5.7%
We had no primary objective 1.4%
Crisis communications 0.7%
Other 1.4%
n = 141
“ O T H E R ” I N C L U D E S
Raising awareness

6. 6D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Did you reach your primary objective?
Q5
What metrics do you use to measure the success of your digital advocacy activity?
[Check all that apply.]
Q6
YES 28.6%
NO 57.1%
Partly 14.3%
PLEASE EXPLAIN:
n = 137
“ E X P L A N AT I O N S ” I N C L U D E
Difficult to say. We rely on retweets and website visits plus through traffic, though the blog is not a “standalone” effort
and part of a number of efforts.
Getting visibility is easy; getting people engaged is more difficult.
Increase in followers and some interaction with those we were targeting
It is a long-term commitment; one which has no “achieved” label attached to it.
Only partly because we are not yet finished the campaign; it’s a long term campaign.
Wider number of MEPs and EC officials reached than possible by ways of meetings, administration of national
governments reached without travel
Yes: Managed to engage with our audience, give more visibility to our issue and increase number of members
Overall engagement (comments, shares, retweets, etc.) 59.5%
Increase in followers/influence on social media 54.2%
Traffic to our website/blog 49.6%
Number of direct contacts with key opinion leaders,
influentials or decision-makers 35.9%
Subscriptions to our newsletter 16.8%
Video views 16.8%
We aren’t measuring results 14.5%
Other 7.6%
n = 131

7. 7D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
A N A LY S I S
There seems to be no consensus regarding metrics and the definition of success. However, overall engagement,
increase in follower count on social media and traffic metrics all serve as useful indicators of a successful campaign
for most organisations.
What are the most relevant digital advocacy tools for you? [Check all that apply.]
Q7
Social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) 88.9%
Email newsletters/campaigns 46.8%
Infographics 43.7%
Blogging 36.5%
Online videos 23.8%
Photo sharing websites (Flickr, Instagram, etc.) 11.1%
Online advertising/online sponsorship 10.3%
Online petitions 8.7%
Other 1.6%
n = 126
“ O T H E R ” I N C L U D E S
Podcasting and webinars
In a typical week, about how much time do you and your team spend on digital
advocacy?
Q8
R E S P O N S E AV E R A G E R E S P O N S E T O TA L
12.21 1,429
n = 117
D I S C L A I M E R
Though team sizes vary to a great extent as they often include full- and part-time staff as well as external contractors
or agencies, on average, teams spend 12 hours a week on engagement and management of social media resources.

8. 8D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Approximately what percentage of your advocacy/government relations budget
is spent on digital advocacy?
Q9
n = 99
A N A LY S I S
Over one half of respondents specified a figure between 5 percent and 20 percent, but in some organizations, digital
advocacy takes 90 percent of the budget; others get by with zero or near-zero spending. This mainly reflects the
nature of the respondents; a digital communications agency would spend a larger part of its budget on such efforts
than would a classic corporation, for example.
Do you think this number will decrease, increase or stay the same over the
next 12 months?
Q10
Increase 64.6%
Stay the same 33.6%
Decrease 1.8%
n = 113
A N A LY S I S
Nearly two-thirds of respondents forecasting an increased allocation for digital advocacy, which underscores its growing
importance to firms seeking to make an impact in European public affairs.
This can also vary according to the industry, whether it’s a business-to-business or business-to-consumer organisation
or the EU’s relevance to the given sector.
P E R C E N TA G E
O F B U D G E T 0 1-5 10 15 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
N U M B E R O F
R E S P O N D E N T S 17 30 16 9 11 7 2 2 0 2 1 2 0

9. 9D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Which type of organisation do you work for?
Q11
Business 24.6%
Association 23.1%
Consultancy 20.0%
NGO/nonprofit 13.1%
EU institution or government agency 11.5%
Think tank 0.8%
Other 6.9%
n = 130
K E Y T A K E A W A Y S
Digital tools are important.
Eighty-nine percent of PA professionals use digital tools for advocacy.
Digital advocacy works.
Over 60 percent of respondents who use digital advocacy tools reported meeting their primary objective through use
of those tools.
Those that see value in using digital tools are already using them.
Twenty-nine percent of non-users have plans to start using digital tools within the next 12 months.
Long-term objectives are important.
Although digital advocacy is a fast-moving medium, many of the benefits being sought are long-term.
Funding for digital advocacy is on the rise.
Nearly two-thirds of responding organizations believe their digital advocacy budget allocation will increase,
while only 2 percent think it will decrease.
Success is hard to measure.
Despite reporting success, measurement can take many forms.

10. 10D i g i t a l A d v o c a c y Tr e n d s i n 2 0 1 5
Public Affairs Council
Brussels: 22-24 Rue du Luxembourg, B-1000, (+32) 496.20.14.16
Washington, D.C.: 2121 K St. N.W., Suite 900, (+1) 202.787.5950
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